Page a Day: One Hundred Fifty Seven

             Funny, on Thaeron they hadn’t even known other people could handle your valkyrie so long as you didn’t bring it to full wakefulness. They thought it was a lifetime bond or something, like with the mastodons. While I waited, I walked around my tent, thinking Thaeron had strange damned ideas sometimes.  

            Their reverence for machines. The lack of desire of most people to understand them. The endless hoarding by a few of the most ubiquitous power on this world. How do you let that go on? I mean, you couldn’t really go anywhere machines weren’t. Not here. Not in this place. 

            He came back leading my silver craft, a palm upon its nose. Nogilian stalked behind him. In the mist we could have been the only three people on the planet. I wondered for not the first time if this fog was water all the way through. He stopped the valkyrie just in front of me. I had walked my way almost full circle, stood beside my awning again.

            “Nogilian,” I said. “What day is today?” Ash looked funny at that. 

            Nogilian mentioned the day of the Thaeronian week.

            “I mean from one hundred,” I said.

            “It is the eightieth day, Guardian. Jerem Cozak left ten days ago for Nesechia. He has not returned. He has sent no word.” Gruff, the man was. He could have been giving me the casualty report. In a way, I suppose he was.

            “On our own then,” I said. No one argued. “What were our options?”

             “Go to Kasora ahead of him. Prepare for the siege of the city. Or take the Shuni Plateau for the Swarm, and hope to reach Kasora by the time its walls are breached. But he has left no greatships. We have missed our opportunity.”

            “Yeah,” I said. “I suppose so. Anything tactically interesting about that plateau?” I walked over to my valkyrie.